Wireless communication devices transmit and receive information wirelessly via a wireless access node to communicate over a communication network. Typically, the wireless access node is part of a radio access network (RAN) which provides the wireless communication devices with access to further communication networks, systems, and devices. The wireless communication devices utilize forward link communication channels to receive voice and/or data transmitted from the wireless access node, and reverse link communication channels to transmit information up to the node.
Given the nature of transmitting information in the form of energy over the air, errors can be introduced while the data is in-route to its destination. These errors can be introduced from a variety of factors, such as environmental obstructions, distance between a sender and receiver, strength of the signal being transmitted, and others. In some cases, the intended recipient of a data transmission may not even receive the data whatsoever. To address these concerns, error control techniques for data transmissions may be utilized to achieve reliable data transmissions over an unreliable service. One such technique, termed hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ), provides such error control by encoding data with a forward error correction (FEC) code. In addition to the FEC code, the sender may transmit parity bits to assist in recovering erroneous data, which may be sent either immediately or only transmitted upon request when a receiver detects an erroneous message.